This invention relates to reaction products of formaldehyde, with diaryl compounds such as naphthalene, alone and in combination with diphenyl oxide, and to a process for their preparation.
It is known from Makromolekulare Chemie 97:163 (1966) and 107:196 (1967); British Pat. No. 942,057; and Ser. No. 236,472 filed March 20, 1972 that resins can be prepared from formaldehyde and diphenyl oxide. However, the resins do not have methoxymethyl substituents.
It is also known from J. Research 17, B:14-20 (1939) by R. Monske and A. Ledinghorn, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,342,873 and 3,274,157 that alkyloxymethyl diphenyl ethers and naphthalene ethers can be prepared by chloromethylating diphenyl ether or naphthalene and then etherifying with lower alcohols. The present route of directly preparing methoxymethyl derivatives is advantageous as it avoids the intermediacy of chloromethyl ethers.